Journalists face arrest, intimidation during Party Congress

New
York, April 20, 2011--The Committee to Protect
Journalists is alarmed by a string of recent arrests of journalists from the
Havana-based news outlet Centro de
Información Hablemos Press, preventing them from reporting on the Communist
Party Congress held in Havana
this week. CPJ called on the Cuban government to cease its persistent
harassment of independent journalists and allow them to report freely.

In the past three weeks, at least 10 correspondents from Hablemos Press,
known for its reporting on human rights and opposition activities, have been
detained in police stations, put under house arrest or threatened with arrest.
One journalist, Enyor Díaz Allen, was assaulted by government supporters and
then held by police for four days. The arrests coincide with the Sixth
Communist Party Congress, the first in 14 years, which began in Havana on Saturday.

"This spike in short-term arrests of journalists during the Communist Party
Congress is evidence of the Cuban government's unchanged attitude toward the
independent press, despite the releases of imprisoned journalists in recent
months," said Carlos Lauría, CPJ's senior program coordinator for the Americas.
"We call on Cuban officials to stop detaining and harassing journalists."

Despite the landmark
release this month of Alberto Santiago Du
Bouchet Hernández, the last journalist jailed in Cuba, CPJ and local human
rights organizations have observed an increase in instances of low-intensity
persecution--short-term detentions, house arrests, smear campaigns, and
intimidation--of members of Cuba's independent press.

Hablemos Press director Roberto de Jesús Guerra Pérez told
CPJ in an interview Tuesday that the timing of the arrests was obvious. "The regime
is afraid that there will be a popular uprising during the Party Congress and
wants to prevent journalists from reporting on what's going on," Guerra said.

According to CPJ
research, 10 journalists from Hablemos Press have faced arrest and intimidation
in the past three weeks:

--Guantánamo correspondent Enyor Díaz Allen, 28, was
arrested Friday, along with pro-democracy activist Yoandris Beltrán Gamboa, and
held until Tuesday afternoon, Díaz told CPJ. As he was walking Friday evening,
two unidentified men approached Díaz shouting pro-Castro slogans and attacked
him. Díaz defended himself but sustained a fractured arm and wounds requiring
stitches on his head. About 20 minutes into the attack, police agents arrived
and broke up the fight. The police took Díaz to the hospital. After Díaz's
wounds were treated, state security agents took him to the Parque 24 police
station and held him for four days. Díaz was charged with minor assault, and
his attackers walked free, Guerra said.

Díaz has reported on police abuses, education issues,
and opposition activities in Guantánamo province and is also a member of the
youth democracy movement. According to Guerra, a common tactic used by Cuban
authorities to intimidate critics is have government supporters attack
dissidents who are later arrested. Díaz told CPJ that he believes the attack
was related to his reporting.

--Raúl
Arias Márquez and Elier Muir Ávila, correspondents in Morón and Ciego de Ávila
provinces, were detained and threatened on April 5 and again on April 6 by
police and state security agents at Márquez's home, where the journalists
frequently meet. Both have been working for Hablemos Press for about two months
and had reported on a student brawl that left two dead.

--On
March 31, Hablemos Press correspondent Idalberto Acuña Carabeo was arrested at
his home in Havana
by state security agents demanding he hand over photos he took while covering a
labor protest hours before. When Acuña refused to comply, he was taken to a
local police station, interrogated and threatened for 24 hours, Hablemos Press
reported.

--Luis
Roberto Arcia Rodríguez, Hablemos Press correspondent in Mayabeque province,
was put under house arrest in his home in San Jose
de las Lajas on April 16 and held there for 12 hours to prevent him from
traveling to Havana
to meet with other journalists during the communist congress, Guerra said.
According to Guerra, eight state security and police agents prevented the
reporter from leaving his home.

--Sandra
Guerra Pérez, Hablemos Press correspondent in Melena del Sur, was put under
house arrest by more than 20 police and security agents on April 16 who blocked
her from leaving her house until the evening of April 18. She had been
reporting on a series of sugar cane field fires in the area as well as on the
conversion of abandoned schools in the countryside to prisons. According to
Roberto Guerra, the house arrest was intended to keep Sandra Guerra from
traveling to Havana
during the Party Congress.

--On
April 15, two state security agents appeared at Hablemos Press's headquarters
in central Havana
and warned four journalists including Roberto Guerra that they would be
arrested if they left their homes during the Party Congress. Guerra was also
warned that he could face imprisonment for the videos that he has posted on
Hablemos Press's Web site that show victims of official repression.